MR BUCHANAN AT CARTERTON.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3533, 11 June 1890, Page 2

MR BUCHANAN AT CARTERTON.

Mr W. 0. Buchanan, ;M.H.8., addressed his Carterton constituents at the Lyceum Hall last night. The building was crowded, and Mr E, Fairbrother, Mayor of, Carterton, occupied tho chair, and in a few

words mtroducod the speaker. Mr Buchanan, who was received with applause,said the last time the

had met it had beeu bad weather. He had not expected to meet such a large audience, but it was always a ploasuro to a speaker to. see a large audience, and lie thanked them for their attendance. It had been freely stated that the last session of Parliament was an extremely barren one, and he was afraid that in a great measure this was true. A deal of time had been wasted in mere talking and obstruction. ■ Members seemed to care little what happened to the country, so long as they could embarrass the Government. England and other countries had now adopted very 'stringent rules' to prevent this sort of thing, -and had passed measures to that effect, and he would support similar rules for New Zealand, for it would he impossible to describe the vexation of having to sit night after night, while time was being purposely wasted, by

stonewalling and other tactics, Freedom of speech was essential, but it was not right for a minority to moiiopolis6 the time of the Houso in a manner which' any local body, hVever smallj'wqiildbo ashamed df. A flagrant oase was that'of'tine Representation Bill, where town and country were fiercely arraigned against each other, the country considering they were not on equal terms with the towns, llie towns possessed the more influential press, and they could hold meetings with greaterfacilityandat shorternotioe than could, tbo scattered country population, Finally, glad of any compromise, after five successive days and nights of stonowalling, a quota of 28 per cent, was accepted, instead of S3 per cent, as asked,'to end this disgraceful scen|, for winch the town members were solely'to bjame, An important feature of this Bill was that jn future' one njaii one vote would he tho Jaw. Hitherto a man had voted wherever' he had property, and could possess votes in every towu, which was manifestly absurd, because owners of ; largo properties in one centre had but one vote, whilst £25

of property, entitled a man to vote anWteßi The number of Kepresenfetiyes had been MuQed, jilje pities would now return" only j} members, which, he considered a great improve, njent, TJi'e .Government had : commenced b'y to introduce the Hare System, under wbloh "the country would, be; divided into four large distriotß,'and the district wbiob fljey were in would return 15 members, For thjs,' ■ candidates for t& t°m w,Q?!i'Ps to bP-Ol fiiapt physique, and to be injUionaires, tbf.* would have sp iiihpli ground -to get oy/>r to meet tijejf-'gflnstituents. Electors, too, would be surfeited with meetings,' and the newspapers, what a,glorious time they.'would have. Under such a law they would., be free to bleed as /freely aS; .'.lawyers do, Then the voter would get a paper with 80 or'4oThames on it, what a time of perplexity arid 'blunder it wpuhi bs; tp deoide where'to'bestow liis affections. ■• Chjli arid Denmark- were'the only places he knew: ;of' working ''.under- the Hare SystwV ft»i Woy ipigUt i«e» jtj New

Zealand did not,sarif it. Let|tho Government'! ce&B6 'il^ n !" n ?l ser$ er something-new. £5 New;Zealandlbad enough todojwith'oulpbecoming the' dumping ground Vf theoristsfi •'; Ky wanted candidates'faoe' to, faoir with

those they know.not to be running all over a big district. A good many settlers were urging that through the exoitoment of competition they had been led to promise more rent than they could pay. A measure had been brought in by Government., under which they could apply to the Land Board and if the rents were found ex-

ces'sivendtohlyweretherentslowered, but excess already paid was returned. No doubt .this would' 1 relieve* settlers a great deal, but it required carefully working.as there might be room for fraud. ■Another 1 Bill passed was the Naval and Military Aot. Some of the defenders of-ouf hearths and homes

had claims against the country in the shape .of / land grants,; which, had never been met. '• America had spent millions of dollars in recompensing her old soldiers, and he could isee- no

reason why New Zealand should be tardy : in meeting like claims.' The Bill had been brought in with this, object/ and he hoped the stigma .Of injustice would no longer rest on them. : Amendments; to ;the Licensing Act, the CrhninalEvidence Act, and the Loans .to Looal Bodies Aot were also made law, : By means of the latter m'oriey'could be raised for local ■ purposes, the - Government taking the deferred thirds;as security for the loan. 'This would be found "to be'of great, benefit. f'A.great deal of. time had been .taken up last

session in discussing the property-taxi t Machinery was exempt, although he s did not see what special claim it had, s | ind he was'- anxious to get a fair thing all round, but he was afraid i that no Government could do without t it altogether. A motion had been 1 tabled by a member oftheOpposi- j tion to do away with it,'and the i Opposition had supported it, taking, ] he considered,; a most unfair course, ! for had they not been three years in i office, and despite their promisesio | repeal the tax, had done nothing , towards it. Mr Ballance, speaking at" 'Waiiganui, lately stated 'that £350,000 had been raised last year by the property, and if repealed, where would they get that amount of i revenue froni? The Customs would

notprpduce it, Itwaa no uaeiuoreasirig taxes wken the revenue would not respond. In regard to the. Land and lnconifi Tax,; he: '-thought; that i most unfair to country settlers, as they thus would be made to pay a double impost, The Property Tax was objectionable, but : if a direct.tax was necessary, he was bound to say (and ho had gone thoroughly over the ground) that they could not raise money in a fairer, way, In some cases the valuations were unfair he admitted, lie had brought it before the Government and'they hoped next session to reduce it from Id in the £, • . IDE OTAQO CENTRAL BILL,

He briefly explained ■■ the position ,of this line. It was constructed through forty miles of rough country to a place called Middlemarch at a cost of £420,000. It never had paid and was never likely to pay, the country being unfit to carry stook. In 1888 the Government, pledged themselves to borrow no more, but notwithstanding the-pledge they were anxious to push on this line when a more important work; the Eketahuna-Woodyille line, was at a standstill. Another important question wbioh had recenty occupied much attention was. MB SETTLEMENT OF LAND.

There w:as still a large unccoupiei area of Crown Lands and Native lands. They should study what they had done in the past and what they were going to do in the future with these lands, Bir Robert Stout, who was very bitter on.'this;question, claimed to have done all in his power to prevent. land speculation, while the present Government did nothing but try to sell large areas ior cash. Mr Ballance, in a milder manner, simply said the Government were not favorable to village settlements and population was leaving them, butdiduot the Stout Government give two millions of aoros to the Midland railway, which were' now being sold in large areas for oaßh ? Sir Robert Stout hod said he would never rest till Ne.w Zealand was pledged to sell no more laud, but his action had.contradioted his words, The late Government in three years settled' 445,000 acres, ■ whereas the present one during their two and a half years'ternis, had settled P%OQb acres. Fivo. times as' rauoh perpetual lease land had been taken up. under the present Government, and for every; acre sold for oasli seven had been disposed of in deferred payment. Village Settlers. Out of 888 Village settlers, only 808 were able to pay their way on the 81st of March last. £21,382 had been spent on their houses and improvements, and with roads etq the total (lame tp Rowing how expensive these 'settlements were. Any Government was justified in curtailing expenditure, even to the extent of not pushing village settlements. Land settlers could not be made by any scheme, unless the njen. themselves were made of the right stuff. (Cheers).' The Paliiatua Village Settlement, and some other's in the South Island werp successful, owing tf)i favorable conditions, ut He' 'iyotdd-' Bijppo.rt ' village settlements where such conditions were likely to obtain,. Mil. lions of acres now lying idle coujd be utilised by disposing of them at reasonable terms to sujtaple farmers and small capitalists in England. Such men, if here, would find employment for the population, which -was drifting away "to Australia, He then referred to OUABITABLE AID and their struggle for separation, i Previous to 1885 the Government . had contributed 99$ per cent as i against a \ per cent, the amount of lbs local poutribijtiQiis foybaritable , aid in tjid'oity 'ol-' Wellington. . i had endeavoured to obtainlbcal self-' i government fejr Hospitals and Ovarii- • able Aid, but had failed with regard to the latter. Owing to a flaw in the i Act, which was passed by the Btout Ministry, the..\Vairarapa;bad escaped; ; for one year r Next BCssion his colleague introduced a hill \o oarry sgpawtlqn, i whioh they,with' the sirpporti of Qthov districts similarly situated got as far as the spcond reading,.' w|ere- jf sy\ i stonewalled..- Iftefwardsanplherhill was brought forward with no better i success. TheWairarapaconlribi|tions i towards WeUlngton.witb the 1 ment subsidy added, amounted to i £7,000, For this they received next to i nothing. TMb' was. most ! (applause).: ;He felt sure the-present [ Gpvprrinjent would try.to assist them i iii'the oomingf'sessiop,. l but, he was s doubtful of the resuMeiould dp Bis i best, -tipwoyer, to Wlievo wl) :»ti,

unjust impost' (applause). Ho then referred to the £;' STATE OF THE COLONT and the dawn of brighter things which I was following the recent depression, the large increase of exports which proved the wonderfully produotivo power of the colony, and its capacity to pay itci way and prosper. He believed that'the returns of the present 'year would maintain the .improvement shown by the past'year'sjexport I .* Twenty-five per cent of,their, surplus export* now went to New South Wales. He thought that .. with rcspeotto.: f7. > 'Mi }\ \>H

BAILWAYS, increased trarßb would yield.larger ■ : returns.: Last year they, earned ;, £63,000 over the estimate,' and. r £90,000 more, .than the preceding; ,• year. Thiswasequal to Bper;cent, on the cost of construction, and _the Commissioners were to-be • cofigMujlated upon such a result. ! It specially gratifying .to; them - to &us% that the return of their own local line ~■ hnd- increased .£0,600.. (applause.) 6,800 tons of grain had been carried this year, as against a nominal return last year. Excepting.; two short lines -" on|the West Coast,* their mileage was the best in :M- Colony, They were kndioapped.by a- special rate charged for- the- Rimutaka,equal to ' 25 per;cent, more than .Southern farmers had to pay. This increased; for example, the cost, of, delivery, of •- fencing wire jat' Carterton! by Js per ton. He had urged the' Cqm-\ ' missioners to remove this,.anomaly, I but without success.''-■ He thought - the Commissioners might.do more . than they bad done-, to encourage ) settlement by modifying rates in , several directions. With regard to :' FINANCES, ■ ■

it was very encouraging to find that they had had a surplus of £115,000, besides having to meet a debt of £128,000, left by the late Government, for wiping out which the primage duty had been imposed, There was a deficienoy.of £84,000 ou the land fund, but in spite of this they were still able to pay their way. As regards , /•■" - /; PUBLIC WORKS, •?• of the million loan in 1888, £250,000 tiadgone to meet outstanding liabilities. The Main Trunk Line absorbed onehalfof the remainder, leavingonly £850,000 for new works. He had set, his face against borrowing, excepting

for purchasing or opening up Crown and Native lands. The Hon l[t\d ; Fergus, in a recent speech, proposed " to borrow for this, purpose on the local market, but ■■he did not agree with this. He ridiculed his proposal to consolidate local loans, practically it- was almost meaningless, as he only contemplated providing for debentures as they.matured.':Gov-, ernment meddling with looal- bodies' always resulted in disaster. The proposal, too, for.buying up large estates, would, if carried out, give opportunities for corrupt speculation, and the speaker would strongly oppose it, He was satisfied that though Mr Fergus was a momb'er of the Government his speeoh did not represent its policy, He then related some of his experiences of the DEPARTURES FROM THBOOLONV i Hfl was recently travelling to Sydney; and while on, board took . ! oocasion to talk to the men who were : ,' leaving, this Colony, and found that , almost without exception they A... > belonged to the floating population, and consisted of contractors, and,4 , others who were going to 111 anticipation of large loans' I being expended on publio works, and he beliyedi; they ; ; would.comd back again to New Zealand whenever I any similar works were again constructed here.

THE HEW REPBEBENTATIOH.BILI, bad added a largo slice to bis present electorate, but front .{be m; in whioh they had received him be bad reason to believe that be bad not lust the confidence of the constituency, (applause,) and-announced bis intention to be a candidate against all comers at the next general election. (Loud applause.) He concluded by expressing bis willingness to answer questions.

QUESTIONS. . . Mr Partridge, wbo rose amongst some little uproar, said Mr Buohanan bad told them a lot, but bo quite forgotto mention one.little Bill that he voted dead against, the Eight Hours Bill. . ~'. '..... /, ' Mr Buchanan said be wag/glai : the -\ question had been asked, He likeaW to meet difficulties face to face. 'The ' Bill'alluded to''was. a short on.e, short in fact that he oould recite it N " ftom memory. It ran "On and after the year 1889, eight hours shall be considered a day's work, and fortyeight hours a weok's work;" ..The • Bill was crude and meaningless. He would ask any gentleman present what would be the result if suoh a ' Bill became law. John Morley had said " I am all for eight hours, but you must secure the eight hours for yourselves,, and not by Aotof.Parl«-; : ment." That, was a good deal his opinion. Eisbt hours were considered a day's ; work i'rj Ne\y Zealand whoever 'a)jpiic,able, b,ut iri some, cases this was out of tbe question, How about shepherds and ploughmen, 9i' tbe housemaids who get np at six . o'clook to light the fire. If eight hours were practicable, none would be more happy than he to support \ but he had tjeen in the Cojony oyer 80 years mv(»rjous positions, and worked "for wages, and he' that the question pj hours oould not he : regulated by Parliamentr It was a question to be. settled ; between employers and employed, ! Masters had been ia the habit of combining for variouß-4puy-ppses, and he should hs-sorry to,'/ Stop combination of the workers, bat £ he warned them not to invite failure by attempting;the : impossible./^§:, bad not jQt§d for. ttio Ejg-h,t Hpurg Ml, because it ho had done so ho should feel he hadvoted for a sbam. Mr Partridge said that ploughmen and the like could be 'classified, like cooks and stewards and sailors on ' vessels. 'lhey could.go turnabout. ' If Mr Buohanan's weekly servants/ \$ olajij)§d syflftjio fqiiyorji in'hls; i". servipe, be%e ad.PY, they woutd gii ; back sorry', they', pame'.jLßaghtef and ones of shut up,.) ' ■■.■■■'' % remarked .that he had frequently paid his men over-, time without the J.P.. about it. '"(Applause).'' ' ■ ''[''"' '. : Mr Callister asked whether Government wero prepared toJmyrtbeT pa|en| of - Pgnd'a and'' givo to the colony, to tncourage looal ■■ industry;

Mrßuchanan di 3 L »ot think they" wouldi because overyori© would lie wanting; tliem to. buy' a]l edrta'of' patents.' One thing they h.ad done, and that was to (appoint iexpertfl to: examine and classify produoe. .. Mr Drisooll asked if Mr Buchanan would agitate for the appointment of land valuators from other, diatriqts." v; Mr Buchanan flaid he-was Rotablei,, to .answer, ;for 'Goyornment, :hutj himself'he considered that saffioioni time v

He had froquently urged tho appoint* inent of good men, Evon if they cos more, the money would be well spent He knew what waa underlying Mr Drisooll's question, viz:- partiality, and if this were the only point it would be bettor to appoint- judges from other dis'triots,' but there were other sides to the question. If he (Mr Buchanan) were asked to go to Auckland as a valuator, how would fo he be qualified without six months "™ looking about him, whereas he knew ■•' the land in tho Wairarapa thoroughly, and it was the same with tho valuator.

Mr Driscoll gave his case in a humorous way at some length, stating that he considered he' had been unfairly treated, and when the valuator had visited his land he had been "in a hurry to bo off to his dinner." .Mr Buchanan was then asked

. jamb questioner if ho -. considered station-masters, permanent way men, and oivil servants generally, were sufficiently paid. Mr Buchanan replied that ho did not think they were in all cases. Mr Driscoll: "1 say they are well paid, But hero's another: Would you fivor an income tax, in substitution for the property-tax ?" Mr Buchanan considered that certain classes of professional men who now esoaped should pay an incomo tax.

i Mr Driscoll: What about federRation? > Mr Buchanan : That's a largo . question to deal with. ■ Mr Driscoll: Wo don't want much of it I

Mr Buchanan thought it was advisable to let Australia t&!;e the lead in the matter. The Australian were obviously in need of some combination to. do away with the miserable tariffs now existing. When Australia was completely federated, then it wodld bo time for New Zea- ■ land to think about it. The same questioner, who seemed to have come fully prepared for the occasion,then asked: "Was Wellington secure against invasion ?" A. Mr Buchanan thought fairly so, Mr Driscoll did riot agree with this. He should say a single ship could shell Wellington to matchwood in no time. At this stage Mr Driscoll succumbed amidst considerable uproar, and another gentleman asked whether

Mr Buchanan was in favor of exW" tending the railway beyond Ekuta- ™ buna.

Mr Buchanan was of opinion that no other line in the Colony should take precedence, when the proper time came to borrow for railway pur-

poses, Mr Partridge asked how much money Mr Buohanan hadreceived from the Treasury other than his honorarium during the last three years. A rumour had been circulated that he had received other monies, Mr Buchamn denied that he had ever accepted anything from the Government, In answer to another question he stated that, ho wa3 'in favor of forest conservation, but it would be most unwise to go to any great expense in this direction at present, As regards his ideas on the liquor traffic, most people knew them. He was of opinion that the liquor traffic be in the hands of the people. >Jt had been brought forward last session, but he should reserve the f% '° ao ' i a 5 e bought best in ~*w tfiia matter. Mr Sparks asked if Mr Buohanan if lie was in favor of the Compulsory! Insurance Bailway Servants Bill. Mr Buohanan said he was not. Many of them were already insured in the friendly societies, and it would be an injustice, In answer to Mr Partridge he stated that he had nover held shares in the Manawatu Bailway Company. Mr Bennett wanted to know what it was proposed to do with the rising generation—" our boys." Mr Buchanan said let them follow ill tbfi footsteps of their fathers. (Cry of not always, cheers and laughter), flo was not in favor of raining the school age, Nothing more of importance being brought forward, the meeting concluded with a vote' of confidence to Mr Buchanan, and thanks to the chairman,